"Copying design choices (use of materials, shapes, manufacturing limitations) purely as aesthetic is toxic, and it’s not design. It misunderstands the very nature of what product design is supposed to accomplish and ignores the true nature of what the product is and what it does." Concise but spot-on criticism of skeuomorphism by Wells Riley. Couldn't agree with this more.

Except that's not actually skeuomorphism... of course, I would never rule out the possibility of Apple introducing a keyboard that's a skeuomorphic representation of a typewriter, complete with paper jams, correction fluid & a simulated carriage return lever.

Skeuomorphic design is about needless elements retained from previous designs, I maintain that there have been non skeuomorphic interfaces in the past, and they sucked. We moved on, and now everything to do with computer user interfaces is skeuomorphic, even Metro and Holo.

If you like it flat, fine. But don't act like most of the elements of UI design couldn't have been done in a way that doesn't include "unnecessary" characteristics of obsolete elements of machinery from a bygone era.

We moved on, and now everything to do with computer user interfaces is skeuomorphic, even Metro and Holo.

Your have said this twice now. Want to provide an actual example of what you are talking about?

So far you tried to use the on screen keyboard, and that is decidedly not skeuomorphic, not even in iOS... Yes, the button arrangement is the same as a physical keyboard, but that is not a needless design attribute - it is purpose built function. Neither is the spacing of the buttons, or how they are labeled, reaction to presses etc. Nothing about it is skeumorphic.

Now if the buttons looked like physical keyboard buttons, and they visually depressed when you touched them, and they made the click of an IBM Selectric typewriter... But none of that is true.